In honor on Brahim, I've decided to vet some of my Ideas for Linux Mint here. As a few of you know (because I mist have mentioned it) I tried these out on IRC and failed to get a good reaction. Generally the response was along the lines of Why, We already have something similar, You can just configure that yourself manually, or Thats stupid or just not a good idea. Some of them may not work in all situations, but they definitely would be an improvement. I think. and as Brahim doesn't think they are stupid, and none of the Mods or Devs have attacked them, I will just place them here. I will be adding to this as time goes by, as there are alot of ideas floating around in my head and I cannot possibly Get them all out at once.

I know that this one is pretty common but I think I will just add it here as well. As a User, I am sick of not having a feature that has been common in the GUI market sense the 80's. Its not so bad as I am willing to give up Linux in general and Mint specifically, but come on guys. There have been Improvements to the installation experience over the years, but this should have been taken up years ago. I do understand that writing and developing software is hard, and I don't expect much, but surely even an old Dos/win3.1 style Install isn't out of the question. I would be happy to design the GUI if thats the problem. Design is my thing after all.

While I am on the subject of design, I am pretty tired of the fact that design seems to be dead last in the development cycle. Why not take a page from Apple and set a Design Guideline. Now I know that the Linux community likes the Microsoft Windows model, but you cannot beat Apple for design.(Programming on the other hand ) This is of course one of my major beefs, Why does it always look as if our design is just haphazardly thrown together at the last moment, no rhyme or reason. I know Mint has done alot, and the Guys here and at cinnamon have made alot of imrovements. Heck thats why I chose Cinnamon, as it at least matched my idea better then the others.

Clone/Fork Ndiswrapper: to allow the Windows Video and Hardware drivers to work.

Ok this is pure code, I cannot be of any help here, But the idea is valid. One of the major issues with Linux in general is the Hardware problem. The Majority of the Hardware specs are known, and have been for years. Surely the Manufacturers would get behind this as it would be less work then making multiple drivers. Hell even Apple might lend a hand as some people do run Linux on their Hardware as well. (ok thats a tough sell for the last one) This would allow Linux to Just Work on all systems with no issues (flaky Intel Video,Etc)

Ok I think this is one of my best. Yes I know this is like Cocoa and Carbon, But its a good idea. This would allow the Gui to look like anything imaginable, and with more precision then the current Gtk Model does. This would also probibly be the easiest as the majority of the code is already written. It would just require a pruning to remove the non graphical elements. Heck with a little rewrite one could produce a version of gtk and others to point to it. (If this use this instead) to make it compatable with all the others. No more KDE files (well not the graphics engine) to run KMahjongg.

I call it Chameleon. It controls all the graphical elements. It also has the ability to create and save themes (for sharing on mint forums) Why did we remove that feature or water it down anyway. I hate having to use multiple programs to change different element sets.

Button/ Controls themes. This way you can have windows controls or Os X controls, no matter the theme.

yes include these in the packaging. though I would preset the config, and remove the extra GUI, and Allow Mint to just load the appropriate emulator by just clicking on the appropriate game. No you don't have to supply the bloody roms, they are easy enough to get anyway.

Stand alone apps:

Probably just written in java and flash, though small lightweight apps should run fine in a .sfs wrapper (yes I do know what .sfs is) ok so its difficult with larger apps, but smaller ones should work fine. again load my single clicking the app.

I like the theme mockup Brahim. I would change the Scrollbar though... either to a green version of the older Aqua one from Tiger I think, or the Flat version you already use just colored to complement the overall color of your theme.

Now on to the main thrust of this post:

Your Theme Manager idea is in fact pretty much the same as mine, though I would have went with this base design http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/255/a/1/control_panel___theme_manager_by_hexdef101-d6jkrse.png thats the old control panel mockup I made (and never really finished) but its applicable. Beleave it or not Cinnamon Settings Is good enough that I wouldn't really change it... even to completely match my overall design. I would just add some sub categories for better customization of the desktop.

Themes: Thats surprisingly exactly My Idea. I would in fact go with the pre-built Os themes, though I would also add KDE Plasma to the list (overall design at least). I would do one thing slightly different though. I would Categorize the themes by Vender (Linux,Microsoft,OsX,MacOs), And have pull down menu's for the version of said theme. Using Microsoft as an example (want to be fair ) have a pulldown with Classic (95,98,2000), Xp, Vista, and 7.

of course There is the color Issue. I would Create those themes with the ability change colors. Taking Xp's Luna theme. set it up so that its color is controlled separately and system-wide. this way if you wanted a red version of Luna all you would have to do is change the Theme Color. Gnome had a couple of themes that sorta did that but they were not system wide, so Metacity Wouldn't always match. A Blue Leopard theme, yep we can do that.

Controls: I would in fact go with a separate theme style for these. it would be fun to have Microsoft 7's air theme with Os X Buttons and Controls (in the colors of the Air theme of course). I know Emerald Sorta did this (never could get it working on my system though).

Hybred Desktop: yes Though I wouldn't necessarily go as far as matching the control scheme's of Android,IOS,Or that travesty Windows 8. My Idea is to take the the dock and Turn it into a menu system. The subcategories Look like the Slide Window in Cairo Dock like this http://imageshack.us/a/img40/2327/20189111.png.As you can see it takes the Dock and puts it back in its proper place (as a Over Glorified Menu). I Use a Gnome 2.0/Os X placement though you could reverse that easily. User Controlled. (oops just noticed the wrong menu is highlighted in that mockup )

Xtra Credits: Yes I wouldn't mind a Theme in the Default Colors of the Forum (those can be changed btw, or can in other forums with this system). in fact I would have preset color schemes in my design for overall system colors anyway, so this would be a moot issue. But in the interim I wouldn't mind seeing one. A green version of Nord or Tout would be interesting.

Also I know I used the original OsX dock shape from Tiger... I did that because it would fit the old Gnome 2/Unity Design, and would work inverted to the Linux/Windows desktop setup. a 3D dock never looks right on the top or sides to me. That one at least would

As for Universal Menu's on the Panel Like Apple. I do Like them, Never seen them done Correctly though, Not even by Apple (and they designed it, though at least it does work) Ubuntu kinda messed the design up. Though I do use the version for Cinnamon (just to have them there). And the Panel Logo/Menu I would make that System Admin stuff (About this Computer,etc). The "Finder" Icon User Menu (User Icon, About Me, and Lock/Logout/Shutdown) I am big on having as little redundancy as possible (understand the reason, just don't like it)

Another idea is to have user controlled Desktop Icon Placement Schemes. I understand that the icon placement is built in, but it could be separated out and use a scheme file instead. This way thats just another Configuration feature we have that no one else does. (at least that I have seen)

Edit: yes ZonColor is nice, use Sky myself. Would have preferred one Zoncolor with user controlled colors though, well the icons that is